The Strigoi Factor: A Dimitri Story
by ZachieBlade
Summary: What happened when your whole ideals were shattered? What happened when you became the very thing you were fighting against? That's exactly what happened to Dimitri: here's that story.
1. My Awakening

Nobody ever prepared you for what it was like after it happened. Nobody ever told you what it was like after the bite, what it was like inside your own head. That was because nobody stayed sane enough to tell the tale, by the time they trusted you enough to let you outside of your own accord you were entirely one of them. There was no room for doubt amongst the ranks because you had already succumbed to the venom; you had already succumbed to the bloodlust. You weren't the same person you had once been; you were one of them; in all sense of the word. Your eyes were blood red, your need for blood was uncontrollable, and you couldn't venture into the sunlight. That was what it was like for me now.

But I wasn't just any other person. I had strong survival skills, good instincts, and I knew how to deceive someone if it was my last resort. I knew how to make them think that they could trust me, and I knew that they would believe me because that was how things worked around here. They had been told that I would just accept my fate, because that was the type of person that I had been before. I used to be a Dhampir, but I was now a Strigoi. It wasn't a huge change in the wider scope of things, but with the 'transition' came a hunger. It was uncontrollable sometimes, and it seemed to be unquenchable as well. It was always there, hidden in the back of your mind. Some of us could block it out, even ignore it. But that took a lot of practice. It was the main reason that some of us weren't allowed outside on our own so soon. You needed to learn to kill conspicuously.

A lot of us didn't know how to handle at first. It was a huge change in lifestyle choice, and those going from human to Strigoi were on a completely different wavelength. At least as a Vampire you were already used to the blood consumption, but as a human? There was no comparison. But you needed to stay strong, and I didn't really venture outside my room for the first month or so. I didn't want to see anything; I didn't want to know anyone. I didn't want it to be real. I didn't want to acknowledge what I was. They brought me humans, and I feasted on them every day. That's what it took to survive. It got easier all the time, I didn't even have to tell myself it was the right thing to do after a while, I just began to crave it, and as I began to accept what I was it got easier for me to cope with what I was now.

I sighed as I glanced out my window for what seemed to be quickly becoming a routine for me. There was nothing for me out there anymore. My old life was gone; they would never accept me back now. I had an uncontrollable first, and a vicious, power-hungry, side to myself. You wanted to ignore it, you wanted to believe it was just a nightmare; you wanted you believe that you would just change back eventually and that if you ignored it would go away on its own. But it wouldn't. You grew to accept that, and you grew to understand what you were. It consumed you eventually; it consumed the weak willed. But those few that were able to remain strong after the transition were able to hold onto part of their humanity; especially if you had something strong to hold on to. But each day I heard the voice in my head telling me that there was nothing there for me anymore. She was gone. My name was Dimitri Belikov, and I had become a Strigoi.


	2. The Leader of the Strigoi Nest

**Authors Notes: Hey guys! Thanks for all of the nice words! It's honestly a pleasure to read all the nice reviews, and it's becoming a great pleasure to write these stories for you guys! I hope you all continue to like it! And if you do, review it! :)**

It wasn't going to be easy for me. I had known that for the start though, but this was the kind of change in your life that consumed your personality and changed you at the first sign of weakness. You had to stay strong, while keeping up the appearance that you had already been consumed. You had to fool them, and make sure that they didn't know that you were fooling them. It would always be an important stepping stone if you wanted some kind of deception to take place; you had to make them believe that nothing was amiss. It wasn't entirely impossible, but it was extremely difficult when you were considering a Strigoi that had quite possibly been around for centuries; but it could be done. Persistence was key; you couldn't give up.

Sooner or later I would have to leave this room, and when I did that I would have to brace myself for all of the evil that would surely be around the hive of vampires. They would be feasting on humans, most likely all over the place; and I would have to pretend like it looked like the most appealing thing in the world to me. I would have to pretend that I wasn't madly in love with Rose, and that she meant nothing to me; I didn't know which one would be the more difficult one anymore; they were both against his very being. Rose was my guiding light; she was always there to protect me whenever I got into a spot of trouble; even though it should be the other way around. I wondered if she would come for me; I knew that I would have to be strong for her. I stood up, and opened the door, stepping into the hallway.

Whatever I was expecting, it was nothing like what it actually looked like. It was just a giant mass of vampires, almost like I was in a hotel with all of the windows blocked out, except you could see outside of them? Weren't Strigoi meant to burn whenever they were exposed to sunlight; or something like that? I would have to ask what the deal was with this place whenever I was approached by whoever was in charge of this nest, or whenever I found him. It shouldn't be hard; it would make a lot of sense if the person in charge somehow knew everything that was happening inside of the joint; because that would most likely be one of his jobs, to stay in the loop. "**Ah, Dimitri!**" A cold voice from behind me called out. I turned, looking at who I presumed to be the person who was in charge around here. Good; this way I wouldn't have to waste time searching for the man.

"**Hello.**" I said, in a voice that I hoped would pass as uncaring. It was basically how I felt about the whole situation; it was a boring formality, and I had never really cared much for addressing Strigoi by any kind of term of authority; and just because I was one of them I didn't plan on starting anytime soon. I had this; I knew that I would be able to keep myself in check and keep the Strigoi in the dark for as long as it took for them to trust me in the outside world on my own. The Strigoi leader looked annoyed, but not surprised. I suppose he knew what I had been like, and I wasn't the type to bow down to some 'leader' that I'd never met before. He smiled softly. "**You'll learn to obey me before long.**" I just stared back at him, very unimpressed with what the Strigoi had to offer in terms of their leader.


	3. The Leader's Anger

**A/N: Hey guys! This story is an absolute pleasure to write for me & I'm super glad **

Whatever I had expected of the man that I was in front of now, he was a lot lower than any expectation that I could have thought of. He wasn't a leader, he was a scared man when it came to me; you could hear it in his voice. The leader of a Strigoi nest was scared of another Strigoi. That was something that you wouldn't want to include in a motivational speech to the rest of your vampires; it wasn't really something that you wanted to tell anyone, honestly.

Maybe it was kind of common for someone to hang onto their humanity, people with a strong heart and mind; or maybe they were just expecting me to make trouble within the established chain of command and automatically want to be in charge of the place. That couldn't be further from the truth; I really didn't want anything to do with anything that went on in this place. I just wanted to get out as quickly as possible.

"**My name is Xavier.**" He stated, and I rolled my eyes; I couldn't help but wonder if that had been his real name; or something that he had come up with to try and intimidate people. He didn't intimidate me; and he'd have to try a whole lot harder if he wanted to even come close to doing so. I didn't intimidate easily, and that wouldn't change just because I'd become some evil creature of the night that was practically trapped in this place. "**Mine's** **Dimitri, but I'm sure you know that.**" I said, in a tone that sounded as uncaring as my feelings for the situation.

I wondered if he would get tired of my hostility soon; or if he would assume that I was making a threat towards his leadership of the nest. Either way, it meant that he would get tired of me being around here soon enough & it was kind of obvious that I wasn't a threat to exposure of our species. I could control myself, and I was sure of that. There was blood everywhere around me, and it should probably smell like the most appealing thing in the world for me; but it didn't. I repelled the smell of fresh blood out of a human sometimes. I didn't want to be a bloodthirsty Strigoi. I wanted to remain my own person.

The man raised his eyes at me; I wondered if he was finally getting the hint that he was unwanted around here; and that I'd much rather be a thousand miles away from this place. "**Go.**" The 'leader' said, surprising me a little bit. "**But it's daylight out there for a long time to come; so you won't last very long if you leave now, and we won't let you leave after dark. You need to learn the ways of the Strigoi from us, like it or not. You have to learn to catch your prey conspicuously. That's how it is for all of us.**" That part sounded a lot more like the leader I'd known for all of five minutes; I was starting to like this guy even less, somehow; I really didn't think that had been possible.

"**Fine. I'll play it your way. We'll see how long it takes for you to crack, because I can assure you that you'll be the first. And I bet you'll be an easy nut to crack.**" I said, with a slight grin on my face, baring my fangs at him. I wasn't going to let the idiot of a leader think that he had any choice of controlling me; I wasn't going to follow him like the rest of his flock of lambs, and if that took me turning my back on every single person in this building; then I would. I turned, and walked away; I was done listening to him today.


End file.
